LEARNING STYLES OF TALENTED PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS

Abstract

The learning styles of students vary both among individuals and across different disciplines they choose to study. In higher education, academic discipline appears to be a key factor influencing students’ distinctive learning styles. This study, which aims to determine the dominant learning styles and models of talented pre-service teachers, was designed with the survey model. The study group research consisted of 1019 volunteer pre-service teachers who continued their education in Physical Education and Sports, Music, and Arts & Craft Teaching departments. In the study, the VARK Learning Style Inventory was used as a data collection tool; students were asked to answer questions in a digital environment through Google Forms. According to the research results, kinesthetic style is the dominant learning preference for pre-service teachers in the visual arts and sports sciences, and both kinesthetic and aural styles are the dominant learning preferences for pre-service teachers in music education. Although talented pre-service teachers tend to learn predominantly kinesthetic and aural styles when evaluated, 61.2% of pre-service teachers prefer to learn with a Multiple Learning Model, which covers the entire instructional diversity, rather than sticking to just one learning style. Keywords: learning styles, learning preference, talented teacher, VARK